"'A goddess in Ceylon had a headache, and it was said the only thing that could cure her was a plant on one of the Himalayas, a thousand miles to the north. One of the gods went to bring it, and was gone only a few hours. When he got to the mountain he was not sure which plant was wanted, and so he took the mountain on his shoulders and carried it to Ceylon, and he did it so quietly that none of the inhabitants or wild animals that lived on the mountain were disturbed in the least. Going over a plain of Central India he dropped a few stones from the mountain, and formed a range of hills that stand there to-day. If anybody doubts the truth of the story he can see the hills, and then he must be convinced.'
HINDOO GIRL OF HIGH CASTE.
"The Hindoos are thought to have come here, about 3200 years ago, from the north; they enslaved the wild tribes that lived in the country, and traces of these aborigines are still to be found in Central and Southern India. The Persians under Darius conquered a part of the country; and then Alexander the Great destroyed the Persian Empire, and of course took what belonged to it in India. The country was then divided into numerous small kingdoms, which were quite independent of each other; many of them were captured by the Mohammedan conquerors who began to come here eight or nine hundred years ago, and kept coming till within 200 years. The story of their wars, and of their empires and kingdoms, would fill a large volume, but we will skip them all, as even the shortest account would be tedious.
"In 1599 a company was formed in London, called 'The Governor and Company of Merchants of London Trading with the East Indies,' which was afterward shortened to 'The East India Company.' Queen Elizabeth gave them a charter, and a monopoly of all trade east of the Cape of Good Hope, for fifteen years, and they had a capital of £30,000.
"The company did so well in the first fifteen years that it had its charter renewed, with more capital, and every fifteen or twenty years afterward, down to the year 1854, it was renewed in one form or another. The capital was increased with most of the renewals until it reached £6,000,000, or $30,000,000, in 1793; it remained at that figure, but the profits were so great that the shares were often held at five or six times their par value. From a very early period in its history the company had the power to govern the country, to make war upon all barbarous people, to administer laws not conflicting with those of England, and to make such laws of its own as were thought necessary.
"From 1833 the company ceased to be a trading association, but was continued in the Government of India, the country being thrown open to any British subject who chose to engage in business. All the property of the company was declared the property of the English Government, and held in trust for it by the company, which was to receive ten per cent. dividend on its stock, and the Government was privileged to buy the stock at any time at twice its par value. The last renewal of the charter was in 1854, but not for any definite period; in August, 1858, the company was virtually abolished by act of Parliament, and all its powers were transferred to the Queen, its army and navy were declared a part of the national forces, and all persons holding commissions under the company were transferred to the service of the Crown. Thus ended an association that had existed more than 250 years, and conquered a country containing nearly a fifth of the inhabitants of the globe.
"Since 1858 the power of the British Government has been extended and strengthened, while that of the old 'John Company,' as it was called by the Chinese, has disappeared. The Governor-general of India is appointed by the Queen, and he lives at Calcutta in the winter season, and at Simla in the summer. There is a Governor for each of the presidencies of Madras, Bombay, and Bengal, and under him are all the local and district commissioners, collectors, and other officials. Then there are lieutenant-governors, or commissioners, for the Punjaub, North-west Provinces, Oude, Central Provinces, and Scinde; while the provinces of Hyderabad, Mysore, and one or two others are controlled directly by the Governor-general. The villages manage their own affairs, subject to the approval of the officer in charge of the district where they are located, and the native magistrates are held responsible for the good conduct of their subjects. In some parts of the country the land is leased to zemindars or large landholders, and sublet by them to the villages; in others the villages lease from the Government; and in others the individual cultivators take leases and pay their taxes without the intervention of anybody.
"The power of the Government is not the same all over India. In some parts of the country the title of the native princes has been quite extinguished, while in others they live almost as they did before the English went to India; they collect their taxes, maintain their armies, make their own laws, have their thrones, courts, and ceremonies, and do pretty much as they like. An English official, called a 'resident,' or political agent, lives near the prince, and when he thinks the latter is going too fast he gives a gentle hint to that effect. The prince is restricted as to the number of troops he shall keep under arms, and he pays a tax to the Government in return for being let alone. The resident has a force of English troops to support him in case of trouble, and the prince cannot make war upon any other prince without the resident's permission, which he is not likely to obtain. Before the Mutiny there were many native states of this kind; those whose rulers remained loyal to the English have been continued, but those who joined the rebels were absorbed into the British possessions, and the princes were dethroned. Altogether, there are now about seventy native states, but some of them are very small.